Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

The carrot and the stick

A while ago I wrote about how I felt that The Labour Party spent most of their time legislating to get things in the order they wanted. In the world of carrots and sticks this would be the stick.

Today, Lord Phillips, formerly the UK’s most senior judge, has criticised the government for introducing a “ceaseless torrent of legislation.”

The Liberal Democrats have calculated that Labour has introduced over 3,600 new criminal offences since they came to power in 1997.

Do you see why it feels like a stick? I don’t know about you, but I would struggle to think of 3,600 criminal offences. I’ve probably broken a law writing this!

The carrot and the stick

I could not prove the point but I just felt that The Labour Party, New Labour, spent most of their time legislating to get things in the order they wanted. In the world of carrots and sticks this would be the stick.

Then I tripped over a great little quiz about law on the BBC website. One of the questions asked was, “How many Acts of Parliament have been passed since 1801, based on estimates calculated by House of Commons researchers?” The answers is 3,679, but that is only a best guess. Nobody is quite sure.

So, how many have been passed by Labour since it came to power in 1997? The answer is a truly staggering 460. Put another way that is 12% of all legislation since the 1801 Act of Union.

Yes, you can feel the stick now can’t you?